Surrealist Brews

Following on from Maison Antoine we caught the train out to Cantillon - a family run brewery dating back to the 19th century.  To answer your questions - yes, another brewery, this one was different from the rest. The reason being is that they produce a Spontaneous fermentation beer called Lambic and we met the resident cat.

Unfortunately, again we were unable to see the production process as their brewing season is from mid October to the beginning of April.  However, we were able to observe the equipment and have a tour to understand their brewing process and taste some of their tasty beer.

The brewery makes Cantillon Lambic, Geuze and Fruit Beers such as Kriek.  We tried both the Geuze and the Kriek at the Brewery.  They were both quite sour on the palette, but very light and tasty.

After our visit to the Brewery, we returned to town to a small pub called Moeder Lambic (which we happened to stumble upon, with a slogan like "Beer is the Answer", it was hard to pass up), with over 44 beers on tap from microbreweries around Belgium and the Netherlands.  We tried another two tasty beverages here: First, Lambric Cantillon (from the Brewery) we didn't like very much and second, a Valier Blonde described as a Blonde, mild, light beer and it definitely was.

Onto our last day in Brussels another perfect day for the museums...drizzly and overcast.  We grabbed our umbrella and headed to the Rene Margritte Museum.  Part of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium and located on Place Royale the museum is totally dedicated to Margritte.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with René Magritte, he was a Surrealist painter and one of the most famous Belgian painters that I know (along with Van Eyck, Peter Breugal and Rubens).  Margritte's paintings depict everyday objects such as apples, pipes and stones in odd compositions. 

I first saw Margritte's work when I was studying art in highschool.  I loved the clarity of his painting style and odd juxtapositions of images - a real inspiration.  I enjoyed our visit to the museum immensely. 

The audio guide was also very well done and included recordings of the artist, his wife, friends and colleagues and also information on his works that weren't displayed as text next to the artworks like in so many other art galleries and museums.  Interestingly, the audio guide also informed us that Margritte's paintings have inspired others such as pop and conceptual artists such as: The Rolling Stones -their 1970s hit "Angie" was sold in some countries with a cover showing a naked woman posing as a face; The band Oasis made a video featuring men with bowler's hats and umbrellas floating in the sky, and songs by Paul Simon and John Cale.

I also adored the 19th century neo-classical state-of-the-art restored building that the museum is housed in.  After seeing such a large collection (over 200 works consisting of oils on canvas, gouches, drawings, sculptures, advertising posters and photographs) of Margritte's works I came away with a few favourites: